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Bible Quotation For Today/As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
John 17/14-19: "I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth."

Bible Quotation For Today/‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
Letter to the Hebrews 10/26-31: "If we wilfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgement, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy ‘on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 03-04/15
The Russian, Iranian, Hezbollah military triangle/Ali Rizk/AlMonitor/November 03/15
How much does Russia care about Hezbollah/Nicholas Blanford/Now Lebanon/November 03/15
La religion contre la violence/Samir FRANGIÉ | OLJ/November 03/15
Will Turks Accept the Election Results/Daniel Pipes/November 03/15
Why Palestinians Do Not Want Cameras on the Temple Mount/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/November 03/15
Middle East Christian Committee" Advocate at the UN for Yezidis and Christians Facing Genocide/USNewswire/November 03/15
Nothing but a dead end with Putin/Jamal Khashoggi/Al Arabiya/November 03/15
Turkish elections: the tyranny of majority/Mahir Zeynalov/Al Arabiya/November 03/15
Erdogan won at the right moment/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/November 03/15
Can Iran play a part in Syria’s peace and unity/Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/November 03/15

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin for Lebanese Related News published on November 03-04/15
Elias Bejjani/New Tweets For Today
Iran arrests U.S.-Lebanese man in espionage probe
Iran Arrests Lebanese-American for 'Intelligence Ties'
Lebanon seeks more aid to clear unexploded mines
The Russian, Iranian, Hezbollah military triangle
Ali Rizk/AlMonitor/November 03/15
How much does Russia care about Hezbollah?
Nicholas Blanford/Now Lebanon/November 03/15
Dialogue Parties Discuss 'Exporting' Trash as Arslan Declares Residents Rejection of Costa Brava Landfill
Report: Hollande to Discuss Lebanon's Presidential Deadlock with Rouhani
Wages, Naturalization Law Put on Legislative Session Agenda but Not Electoral Law
Report: Saudi-French Arms Deal to Lebanon back on Track
Lebanese Arrested for Belonging to IS, Recruiting Youths to Syria, Iraq
Report: Cabinet to Convene Wednesday to Resolve Trash Dispute
Report: FPM Sees Flaws in Agreement to Pay Military Officials' Wages
La religion contre la violence

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 03-04/15
IRGC chief, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari. hints as Moscow-Tehran rift
Will Turks Accept the Election Results?
Daniel Pipes/Cross-posted from National Review Online
Iranian Commander Killed in Syria
Syrian Minister Rules Out Transition Period
Russia gets intel from Syrian opposition, holds joint drill with U.S.
Emir of Kuwait to meet Putin in Russia next week
Israel keeps its own counsel on Assad as big powers wade into Syria
Russia says no change in its view on Assad
Turkish warplanes bomb Kurdish rebel bases: army
Rare cyclone batters Yemen, thousands flee homes
Russia steps up push for Syria peace deal, proposes talks
Turkey rebuffs intl complaints of media crackdown
Russia confirms sending wheat to Syria as aid
Iraq warmonger Ahmad Chalabi dies
Graphic video shows Afghan woman stoned to death for eloping
Rights group slams Syria rebels for 'human shields'
Netanyahu’s peace efforts all talk, says Peres
Russia rejects linking its plan in Syria with jet crash
Obama pushes ‘no boots on ground’ Syria pledge
U.N. pushes for final Libyan unity agreement

Elias Bejjani/New Tweets For Today
Lebanon is a rogue country & unless its patriotic politicians deal with this reality & the UN takes it over, all efforts will be in vain.
One day Gibran Bassil will be arrested & charged with illicit enrichment. Only in 10 years he became a millionaire if not a billionaire.
How wise would it be if Gibran Bassil & all greedy creatures of his likes can wisely understand that all that is earthly riches will remain on the earth.

Iran arrests U.S.-Lebanese man in espionage probe
By Reuters, Dubai Tuesday, 3 November 2015/Iranian authorities have arrested an American-Lebanese man who they say was linked to the U.S. military and intelligence agencies, state broadcaster IRIB said on Tuesday. It named the man as Nizar Zakka, an IT expert who Lebanese media reported last week had disappeared on Sept. 18 after attending a conference in Tehran. The report, which cited informed sources, is the first official confirmation of his arrest. “Nizar Zakka has deep ties to the U.S. intelligence and military establishment,” IRIB quoted an unnamed source as saying. There have also been reports that Iran has arrested U.S.-Iranian citizen Siamak Namazi, a Dubai-based businessman who disappeared in mid-October while visiting family in Iran. Reuters has not been able to confirm those reports. Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said on Monday the ministry had been discussing ways to combat foreign influence in the country as Tehran begins to implement a nuclear deal that will lift sanctions and open Iran to foreign businesses. The authorities also arrested two Iranian journalists on Monday. The head of the judiciary dismissed international condemnation of what appears to be a crackdown on local writers and artists.

Iran Arrests Lebanese-American for 'Intelligence Ties'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 03/15/Iran has arrested a Lebanese-American on suspicion of having links to the U.S. intelligence community, bringing to five the number of Americans held in Iran, state television reported on Tuesday. The television report did not give details of when or where the suspect had been arrested but identified him as Nizar Zaka and said he was suspected of "multiple close ties to the U.S. military and intelligence communities." The broadcaster aired photographs of what it said was Zaka in military uniform on a U.S. base. Four Iranian-Americans are also being held in Iran. They include Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, who has been held since July last year on spy charges. His employer says he has been found guilty in an "outrageous injustice". Iranian officials have not detailed the charges of which he has been convicted but have said that he can appeal. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said Iran is trying to resolve Rezaian's case "from a humanitarian point of view". Tehran does not recognize dual nationality for its citizens.

Lebanon seeks more aid to clear unexploded mines
AFP, Washington Tuesday, 3 November 2015/Lebanon asked the United States Monday for more aid in eliminating landmines planted during the Lebanese civil war and in later conflicts. The State Department published Monday its yearly report on its program to destroy abandoned conventional weapons. It is a 2.5 billion dollar program dating back to 1993, and allotted around 140 million dollars last year. The United States said that makes it the world's top country in terms of eliminating unexploded ordnance like anti-personnel landmines. Speaking as the report was released, Lebanese Ambassador Antoine Chedid warned against "donor fatigue" in making land in formerly war-torn countries such as his safe to walk, farm, or build on. "This is very important, that the U.S. will continue and even increase the level of assistance and it's absolutely very important also that the U.S. puts pressure on other donors, international donors," Chedid told a news conference. "The reality is that Lebanon is contaminated with landmines," he added. This danger stems from the Lebanese civil war of 1975-1991 and fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 in south Lebanon. In 2013, Syria was also accused of placing landmines along its border with Lebanon. The State Department says Washington has spent more than 55 million dollars on landmine and other ordnance clearing in Lebanon from 1998 to 2014. Last year, the amount was 2.5 million dollars. "We have turned one-time battlegrounds into land for vital infrastructure. We have cleared mine fields so that farmers can get back to their fields and children can walk to school safely in Angola, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and many other countries," said Rose Gottemoeller, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Secretary of State John Kerry said in December of last year that the world would soon be rid of anti-personnel mines. The Ottawa Convention of 1997, so far signed by 162 countries but not the United States, bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines.

Middle East Christian Committee" Advocate at the UN for Yezidis and Christians Facing Genocide
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ten leaders representing member organizations of the Middle East Christian Committee (MEHCRIC), recently met with the United Nations permanent missions of Russia, France, and the US, and with Ambassador Terje Roed-Larsen to advocate for Yezidis and Christians, many of whom are undergoing genocide in Iraq and Syria at the hands of ISIS.
These most recent meetings are the third such meetings in which MECHRIC in partnership with the Yezidi Human Rights Organization International has become the primary representative and source of information to members of the UN Security Council. Yezidis and Christians are being exterminated by ISIS and this group of NGOs have regularly updated the UN with on-the-ground information regarding our communities and provided concrete policy recommendations.
The group discussed the Paris Action plan created during a conference co-hosted by France and Jordan in September. Additionally, the advocates pressed for the creation of a UN Special Envoy who would coordinate all UN efforts to stop the genocide against minorities in the Middle East as there is no central individual to coordinate the actions of UN entities and to ensure a coherent and effective response. MECHRIC particularly stressed that all indigenous groups be brought to the table to discuss political solutions as the UN and Western countries typically negotiate with the largest minority groups. Also discussed was the need to ensure that humanitarian and military aid start reaching the Yezidi and Christian minorities as it is currently being diverted away from the neediest groups by various local governments and authorities.
After MECHRIC's second round of UN meetings with UN-SC members, France and Jordan co-hosted a conference in Paris in September of this year bringing together 46 nations including 21 Foreign Ministers to determine how best to assist our communities. Spain has announced that they will host a follow-up conference to assess the progress made since the Paris conference. MECHRIC is grateful for the leadership these nations have shown and their commitment to assisting Yezidis and Christians through political and humanitarian aid.
Members of MECHRIC who participated in these meetings are:
Mr. William Youmaran, President of Assyrian American National Federation
Mr. Lawrence and Mrs. Ishtar Mansour, American Mesopotamian Organization (AMO)
Mr. Abraham Sahdo, Council of Syriac Organizations
Mr. Loay Mikhael, The Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council (Coming from northern Iraq)
Ms. Lindsay Vessey, Coptic Solidarity International
Mr. Mirza Ismail, Chairman, Yezidi Human Rights Organization International
Mr. Eblan Farris, Director, Public Relation World Maronite Union
Tom Harb, General Secretary MECHRIC and President of American Maronite Union
Dr. Walid Phares, Special Advisor
MECHRIC is the oldest coalition of Middle East Christian organizations launched in Beirut in November 1981 by Maronite, Coptic, Assyrian, Chaldean, Syriac and other groups to represent the aspirations of these and other communities in the Near East and North Africa. For more information, contact Tom Harb at 407 -383 9600 or tharb@aol.com, of World Maronite Union, or Lindsay Vessey of Coptic Solidarity at 801-512-1713 or Coptadvocacy@copticsolidarity.org
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151101/282654
SOURCE MECHRIC (The Middle East Christians Committee)
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/middle-east-christian-committee-advocate-at-the-un-for-yezidis-and-christians-facing-genocide-300170039.html

The Russian, Iranian, Hezbollah military triangle
Ali Rizk/AlMonitor/November 03/15
Since Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria became apparent in the summer of 2012, it has been a subject of hot debate both within Lebanon and beyond. Many questioned the wisdom of this step, saying that by engaging in the Syrian conflict, Hezbollah had tarnished its image after gaining high popularity in the Arab world as an anti-Israeli resistance force.But with the latest twist of events sparked by the Russian intervention in Syria, which started Sept. 30, the Lebanese movement may very well be in the driver's seat to assume a major regional role. This could mean the birth of a “new Middle East,” albeit in stark contrast to the one then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke of shortly after Israel began its war on Lebanon in July 2006 with the aim of “crushing Hezbollah.”A major indicator supporting the above notion is that Russia does not seem to be replacing the “Iranian-Hezbollah axis” in Syria, but rather complementing and strengthening this axis. According to political commentator with Russia’s Kommersant publishing house Sergei Strokan, there now exists a “Russia, Iran, Hezbollah military triangle” in Syria. In a telephone interview with Al-Monitor, Strokan said, “Hezbollah can do some things that Russia can’t afford to do itself,” as putting “Russian boots on the ground [in Syria] is a subject of heated debate [within Russia].” He added, “The Russian public is worried that something similar to Afghanistan might take place.”Hezbollah for its part appeared jubilant, from day one of the Russian airstrikes. Just hours after the first airstrikes were launched on Sept. 30, a Hezbollah official emphasized during a private discussion with Al-Monitor that Moscow "has its partners on the ground in the Syrian army and its allies, like us."
A second Hezbollah official recently told Al-Monitor about reports of the establishment of a joint operations room in Damascus for the coordination of efforts between Russia, the Syrian army, Iran and Hezbollah. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, underscored that the Lebanese movement — and its allies in Syria — were now receiving “support from a superpower, and Hezbollah [along with the Syrian army] was providing intelligence to Moscow in the air raids being conducted.”An Iranian source, who maintains close contact with both the Russian and Chinese sides, went even further, saying that Hezbollah’s regional patron, Iran, had “brought the Russians [into Syria].” This scenario is further supported by reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military intervention was planned out during a visit by the commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, to Moscow in late July.
Within this same framework, the chief international correspondent of the Al Rai Kuwaiti newspaper, Elijah Magnier, has also reported about a division of labor agreement, whereby Russian warplanes provide air support for the Iranian and Hezbollah fighters on the ground (in addition to Iraqi and Afghan fighters), as they attempt to retake lost Syrian territories. Meanwhile, director of the military and security studies program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Michael Eisenstadt, as well as former head of Israeli military intelligence Amos Yadlin, have also shed light on the likelihood that the Russian intervention in Syria will only serve to strengthen the position of Hezbollah — and Iran — in that country. At the same time, Russian experts point out that Moscow’s intervention in Syria is part of a broader strategy in the Middle East, whereby success in Syria could spell success for Putin’s bid to assume a leadership role in the Middle East, a role Putin is widely believed to aspire to. Strokan said President Putin has placed high stakes on success in Syria and therefore “can’t afford to lose.”
If such a scenario is indeed playing out and the “Russian, Iranian, Hezbollah military triangle” is victorious in Syria, Hezbollah will not only go down as one of the major players that changed the geopolitics of the Middle East, but will also have established itself as a strategic partner in this “new Middle East.”
Ironically, the movement could go from being an organization that was internationally recognized as a terrorist group to an organization that is an “internationally recognized” anti-terrorist force — although such an outcome is far from guaranteed. The establishment of the joint operations headquarters between Russia and Iran in Iraq to share intelligence in the fight against terror only serves to reinforce the notion that Moscow will seek to expand its regional role through coordination with Iran and Hezbollah. According to the well-informed Iranian source who asked not to be named, Russia and China "have come to view Iran and Hezbollah [along with the Yemeni Ansar Allah group, which is viewed as the Yemeni version of Hezbollah] as the most effective fighting force against terror.” Strokan expressed a similar view, underscoring that for Russia, “Hezbollah is getting much more important.” Expanding Russia’s leadership “obviously would require it to maintain close contact and cooperation with influential players in the region,” Strokan said, adding that “Hezbollah’s role is not restricted to Syria.”Indeed, Hezbollah stands ready to enter into a similar arrangement with Moscow in Iraq. When asked whether the movement was ready to replicate the coordination with Russia on the Iraqi battlefield, the Hezbollah official nodded in approval.**Ali Rizk is a freelance journalist and writer for various media outlets including Press TV, Asia TV and The Arab Daily News. He has also written for As-Safir and Al-Ahram, and has been working in the field of journalism for 11 years, including five years in Iran.

How much does Russia care about Hezbollah?
Nicholas Blanford/Now Lebanon/November 03/15
A series of reported Israeli airstrikes over the weekend, allegedly against weapons storage facilities in Syria’s Qalamoun region, raises questions on the limits of cooperation between Russia and Iran in Syria and on Israel’s operational latitude in a Syrian airspace today dominated by the Russian Air Force.
While Russia and Iran are battlefield comrades in defending the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, the Israeli airstrikes suggest that Moscow has little interest in helping its allies protect arms stockpiles that are intended to bolster Hezbollah's front against Israel. On the other hand, the limited nature of these latest airstrikes, which did not see a breach of Syrian airspace by Israeli jets, poses the question of how far Israel is prepared to go in Syria to target what it calls “game changing” weapons destined for Hezbollah. Would Israel risk antagonizing Russia by dispatching aircraft directly into Syrian airspace to attack targets closer to the Russian operational core in Latakia Governorate?
The Israeli airstrikes, some of which were reportedly directed against Scud ballistic missiles, were the first such raids since April. They were also the first Israeli airstrikes on Syria since Russia launched its military intervention two months ago to prop up the Assad regime. The first wave of airstrikes were reported to have been staged on Friday night, with Israeli jets firing stand-off guided missiles from Lebanese airspace to hit an alleged Hezbollah position near Ras al-Ain and the sprawling ballistic missile facility near Qutayfah, home to the Syrian Army’s 155th Brigade. Israeli aircraft have in the past launched their missiles from Lebanese airspace to hit targets in Syria close to the border with Lebanon to avoid Syria’s dense air defense network around Damascus. Both of Friday’s targets were well within the range of Israel’s Popeye and Spice air-to-surface missiles, launched from aircraft above central Bekaa Valley. Security sources in South Lebanon said that 16 Israeli aircraft were detected breaching Lebanese airspace on Friday — an unusually large number.
A second wave of attacks reportedly occurred Sunday evening, again hitting the 155th Brigade facility south of Qutayfah which includes more than two dozen underground missile bunkers dug into the side of a valley. Six Hezbollah personnel were killed in Sunday’s airstrike, according to security sources in Lebanon. Israel, Hezbollah and the Syrian government have not confirmed the airstrikes and most of the reporting on the raids came from pro-Syrian opposition news sources. Nevertheless, the pattern of air strikes and the subsequent reporting sources and lack of official comment from the antagonists echoed an Israeli bombing raid in the Qalamoun area in late April. Israel has struck suspected Hezbollah arms shipments in Syria on 11 separate occasions since January 2013. The Syrian government generally refrains from commenting on raids that occur in remoter areas of the country while denouncing those that cannot be ignored such as the daylight strike against targets in Damascus airport last December. The only military response to past air strikes came from Hezbollah following the bombing of a suspected weapons transfer facility on Lebanese soil south of Janta in the Bekaa Valley in February 2014. Hezbollah subsequently staged a number of small attacks against Israeli troops in the Golan Heights, culminating in the wounding of four Israeli soldiers in a roadside bomb ambush.
Israel has repeatedly said that it will not allow Hezbollah to acquire “game changing” weapons such as ballistic missiles or advanced air defense systems. Given the relative rarity of Israeli air strikes in Syria, it is possible that Israeli intelligence had detected a convoy of weapons preparing to roll out to the Lebanese border and took preemptive action. Hezbollah often uses the bad weather of fall and winter to help mask its arms smuggling activities across the border. Last month, Moscow announced that Russia and Israel had agreed to establish a “hotline” between their respective militaries to avoid any mishaps and misunderstandings that could arise from having their air forces operating in the same skies above Syria. The agreement coincided with a report in As-Safir on 16 October that Russian aircraft were scrambled two weeks earlier to intercept Israeli jets in North Lebanon that were approaching Syrian airspace.
Russia’s interests in Syria are related to safeguarding the Assad regime in the short-term and consolidating its influence in the country and the broader region in the longer-term. It has a battlefield alliance with Iran, Hezbollah and the Syrian Army and operates a joint operations center in Damascus. The Syrian Army and its allies from Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan are presently engaged in several offensives in northern Syria supported by Russian air power.
But Russia’s interests do not necessarily extend to providing protection for Hezbollah’s weapons stored in Syrian military bases, which, after all, are related to the conflict against Israel and not to Assad's survival. The latest Israeli raids suggest that Israel does not expect Russia to actively confront its attempts to hit Hezbollah assets in Syria, at least when the attacks are launched from Lebanese airspace and the targets are far from Russia’s operational hub centered on Hmeymim air base south of Latakia. It is unclear exactly what agreement, if any, has been concluded between Russia and Israel governing the use of Syrian air space. “We don’t interfere with them and they don’t interfere with us,” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a radio interview two weeks ago. But any understanding will surely be put to the test if Israel detects “game changing” weapons appearing in Latakia Governorate in proximity to the Hmeymim airbase and chooses to attack them. Israeli jets have staged at least three previous attacks in the Latakia area, one of them against suspected P-800 Yakhont anti-ship missiles. If Israeli jets are dispatched again to destroy advanced weapons consignments in Latakia, it is hard to imagine Russia turning a blind eye to an aerial intrusion on its ‘patch,’ even if the anti-Israel agenda of Iran and Hezbollah is not Moscow’s concern.
*Nicholas Blanford is Beirut correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor and author of Warriors of God: Inside Hezbollah’s Thirty-Year Struggle Against Israel.

Dialogue Parties Discuss 'Exporting' Trash as Arslan Declares Residents Rejection of Costa Brava Landfill
Naharnet/November 03/15/Political rivals discussed during their national dialogue session on Tuesday the “characteristics” of the country's next president and the possibility of “exporting” trash abroad as an instant solution to the unprecedented garbage disposal crisis that started on July 17. “The option of sending trash abroad was one of the choices that were discussed in the national dialogue session,” state-run National News Agency reported. It said the next dialogue session has been scheduled for November 17. Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat described Tuesday's session as “excellent.” The presidential vacuum that started in May 2014 has had a detrimental impact on the work of the cabinet and the parliament. Speaker Nabih Berri had recently invited the rival parties to national dialogue sessions in parliament in a bid to ease tensions and to resolve the political deadlock. Speaking to reporters after the session, Lebanese Democratic Party leader MP Talal Arslan said “it is not for the dialogue table” to decide on the issue of setting up a garbage landfill in the Costa Brava area on Choueifat's coast. “We discussed the garbage crisis around the dialogue table and all the information about the Costa Brava landfill but this is not for the dialogue conference to decide on,” he said. Following talks with dignitaries from the Choueifat area later in the day, Arslan announced that the residents have “categorically rejected” the proposal to set up a landfill in Costa Brava. “After three days of deliberations, we have decided to categorically reject the Costa Brava landfill proposal,” Arslan said following the meeting in Choueifat. “Our rejection is not aimed at putting obstacles in the way of the State,” he stressed. The lawmaker noted that “the best solution is to export the trash because the sentiments of all Lebanese are tense.”“Unfortunately there is a huge gap between citizens and the State,” he added. “Dahieh is not in a confrontation with Choueifat or Khalde and those circulating sectarian rumors are seeking strife. We did not reject the landfill over sectarian or regional reasons,” Arslan underlined. Earlier on Tuesday, Telecom Minister Butros Harb announced after the dialogue session that the garbage crisis took up most of the meeting's time. “Contacts will be conducted this afternoon and we must wait for 24 hours to know if a cabinet session will be held,” he said. For his part, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, who represented Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun in the session, called for “releasing and distributing the funds of municipalities to enable them to perform their waste management role.”“We heard a lot of proposals regarding the garbage crisis, such as exportation, but we must reach a conclusion in this file,” he said.
“As for the president's characteristics, I stressed that we must resort to the people and that the president must enjoy a popular base,” Kanaan added. Also speaking after the dialogue session, Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon noted that “the Bourj Hammoud dump can no longer take in garbage from Beirut.”“The cabinet will not convene before we find a solution to the garbage crisis,” he said. Media reports meanwhile said that a closed-door meeting was held between Arslan, MP Mohammed Raad of Hizbullah and Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh to discuss the issue of the Costa Brava landfill. Lebanon has been suffering from a trash disposal crisis since July with the closure of the Naameh landfill. Politicians have failed to find an alternative to the landfill, which resulted in the pile up of garbage on the streets of the country. There are fears the uncollected waste, coupled with the rain season, could spread diseases such as cholera among the population.

Report: Hollande to Discuss Lebanon's Presidential Deadlock with Rouhani
Naharnet/November 03/15/French President Francois Hollande is expected to hold talks with his Iranian counterpart on the ongoing deadlock in Lebanon over the election of a new president, reported As Safir newspaper on Tuesday. Arab and French sources told the daily that Hollande will address this issue during Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's upcoming visit to Paris. The date of the trip was not disclosed. Rouhani had previously refused to discuss the presidential issue with Hollande during a meeting they had while attending the United Nations General Assembly in October, added As Safir. Hollande meanwhile continues to show readiness to pay a visit to Lebanon, “on condition that it pave the way to holding negotiations on reopening the presidential file in the country,” revealed the sources. Advisors at the Elysee Palace said that tackling this issue with Prime Minister Tammam Salam can be achieved through Lebanon's participation at an upcoming climate meeting held in Paris at the end of November, reported As Safir. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the polls.

Wages, Naturalization Law Put on Legislative Session Agenda but Not Electoral Law
Naharnet/November 03/15/The parliament bureau agreed Tuesday to place on the agenda of the next legislative sessions the thorny issues of the new wage scale and the law on renaturalizing emigrants of Lebanese origin, as proposals on a new electoral law were left out. “It has been agreed to put the new wage scale on the agenda of the legislative session that follows the next one,” Deputy Speaker Farid Makari announced after a bureau meeting. “The renaturalization law has been placed on the agenda while the electoral law has not been listed until the moment,” he added. Makari noted that it is up to Speaker Nabih Berri to announce the date of the session, adding that the speaker would “contact Prime Minister Tammam Salam in order to agree on an appropriate timing.” “He is the one who has jurisdiction to take this decision,” Makari added. Lebanon's political stalemate has not only left uncollected garbage piling up in the streets, but now risks losing millions in international loans for key development projects because of a paralyzed parliament. To secure the funds, Lebanon's parliament is required to approve loan deals or pass legislation on which the money is conditioned. But the legislature, deeply divided over issues ranging from minor domestic disagreements to the conflict in neighboring Syria, has not met since May 2014. The World Bank warns that Lebanon could lose half a portfolio worth $1.1 billion if parliament fails to ratify loan agreements before December 31. Legislative inaction has already led France to cancel 46.5 million euros for building schools and 70 million euros for the electricity sector, in a country where chronic power outages continue 25 years after the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. The country has not had legislative elections since 2009, with parliament meeting only to extend its own mandate twice. The parliament has been so divided that it has failed more than 20 times to elect a successor to president Michel Suleiman, whose mandate expired in May 2014.

Report: Saudi-French Arms Deal to Lebanon back on Track
Naharnet/November 03/15/The deal between Saudi Arabia and France over providing weapons to the Lebanese army has returned back to its course, reported As Safir newspaper on Tuesday. It said that the execution of the agreement will resume after it had reached a halt a few months ago. French sources predicted that negotiations between French weapons manufacturers will resume before the end of the year. The negotiations will tackle agreements reached between the Lebanese army and negotiators at the French ODAS company in February. The company had received a request from Saudi Arabia in May to freeze the arms deal with Lebanon, said As Safir. In April, Lebanon received the first tranche of weapons designed to bolster its army against jihadist threats, including anti-tank guided missiles. The weapons are part of a $3 billion program agreed between Saudi Arabia and France in 2014.

Lebanese Arrested for Belonging to IS, Recruiting Youths to Syria, Iraq
Naharnet/November 03/15/The General Security announced on Tuesday the arrest of a Lebanese suspect for belonging to the Islamic State extremist group.It said that the suspect confessed to recruiting Lebanese youths to send them to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside the IS. He himself was planning to travel to Iraq for that same purpose. The suspect also admitted to preparing 16 belts loaded with very volatile explosives for the group of slain extremist Osama Mansour. The General Security added that the detainee had taken part in the latest round of fighting against the army in the northern city of Tripoli. The detainee has since been referred to the concerned authorities for further investigations.Mansour was shot dead by security forces in Tripoli in April. He was the leader of a group affiliated with the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida's Syria franchise. A number of his affiliates have been arrested in recent months.

Report: Cabinet to Convene Wednesday to Resolve Trash Dispute
Naharnet/November 03/15/Prime Minister Tammam Salam is expected to call cabinet to session this week after the plan to end the trash the disposal crisis had reached its final stages, reported An Nahar daily on Tuesday.
Ministerial sources predicted that the premier will convene the session on Wednesday. He will make the call at the end of the national dialogue session set to be held at parliament on Tuesday. The cabinet session will tackle the allocation of landfills and the execution of the trash disposal plan, amid the necessary security measures, said the daily. The government meeting will also sign a decree that would provide the salaries of military officials after an agreement had been reached on Monday over the issue. An Nahar added however that a date to holding a cabinet session hinges of MP Talal Arslan agreeing to setting up a landfill in Khaldeh's Costa Brava area. Officials had last week proposed that a landfill be established in that region, sparking the objections of the lawmaker. Politicians had made progress in resolving the garbage crisis that had erupted in July with the closure of the Naameh landfill.
After months of disputes, they have reached a tentative agreement to set up a landfill in Srar in the northern region of Akkar, while question marks remain over setting one up in either the southern Kfour area or Costa Brava.

Report: FPM Sees Flaws in Agreement to Pay Military Officials' Wages
Naharnet/November 03/15/The Free Patriotic Movement criticized the agreement reached to pay the salaries of military officials, reported the daily An Nahar on Tuesday. Sources from the movement questioned to the daily how officials resorted to “the same procedure that had been adopted in the past by Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, which the FPM had considered as illegal.” “Such a procedure is a sign of the collapse of the Lebanese system,” they warned. “The transfer of the salaries can only be made through a decree signed outside of cabinet, just like the decrees on the promotion of officers,” they explained. “The FPM will only take part in cabinet sessions aimed at tackling the waste management crisis and the security promotions,” said the sources.On Monday, a delay in paying the salaries of military officials was resolved through an agreement between Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil. The wages were paid through a memo sent by Salam to Khalil, requesting him to pay the salaries and that he will take responsibility for it. The memo was issued after the minister had informed him that he would not be able to pay the salaries without the necessary legal backing. Khalil's sources told An Nahar that he had prepared the decree, while Salam signed it on behalf of the cabinet, They stressed that this extraordinary measure is legal and it will be presented at cabinet as soon as it convenes.

La religion contre la violence
Tribune
Samir FRANGIÉ | OLJ
03/11/2015
Le dernier ouvrage d'Ibrahim Tabet, Le monothéisme, le pouvoir et la guerre de la conversion de Constantin au jihad islamiste, est d'un grand intérêt, car il remet en question une série de préjugés fortement ancrés dans l'inconscient collectif. C'est d'ailleurs sous l'angle du rapport entre les monothéismes et la violence que l'ouvrage prend toute sa dimension.
À la lecture du livre, il apparaît ainsi que, contrairement à une idée largement répandue, les religions monothéistes n'ont pas représenté une avancée dans le domaine des rapports entre religion et violence. Ils ont au contraire fait preuve dans leur histoire de plus d'intolérance et de fanatisme que l'Empire romain païen, ou les croyances indienne, chinoise et japonaise. « Dans l'univers polythéiste des Grecs et des Romains, la religion ne se présente pas comme une vérité unique, garantie par sa source divine, ni comme un dogme 1 . »
Une autre idée reçue que l'ouvrage remet en question est la distinction faite entre les monothéismes, entre monothéisme tolérant et monothéisme violent. Il rappelle que l'évolution de l'islam et de la chrétienté en matière de tolérance s'est faite en sens inverse. De nos jours, c'est principalement le monde musulman qui est accusé d'intolérance et de xénophobie. Mais cela a été longtemps davantage le cas de la chrétienté.
Il nous faut donc refuser toutes les tentatives de « hiérarchiser » les religions en faisant une distinction contestable entre celles qui encouragent la violence et celles qui la rejettent, et rappeler à ceux qui aujourd'hui accusent l'islam d'être une religion de la violence que le « jihad » ne signifie pas « guerre sainte », mais désigne la lutte pour éradiquer l'injustice et le mal dans son ensemble de la société.
Dans la même foulée, l'ouvrage rappelle à ceux qui ne perçoivent la violence que comme une manifestation du fait religieux que les idéologies, ces croyances qui se veulent laïques, ont été à la source des massacres et des génocides qui ont jalonné le XXe siècle. Dans le monde arabe, les massacres qui ont marqué la fin du XXe et le début du XXIe siècle ont été le fait d'un parti nationaliste, le Baas – dans ses deux composantes irakienne et syrienne –, qui se voulait laïc.
Ce n'est que depuis peu qu'un mouvement islamiste, Daech, a commencé à prendre la relève, renouant avec la tradition des ordres religieux militaires, les hospitaliers, les Templiers, et les chevaliers Teutoniques auxquels Ibrahim Tabet consacre un chapitre très intéressant.
La religion, dont la raison d'être est d'ôter à la violence sa légitimité pour permettre aux hommes de vivre ensemble et en paix, devient source de violence lorsqu'elle est réduite à n'être qu'un instrument de pouvoir alimentant des projets de conquêtes comme cela a été longtemps le cas dans l'histoire ou un marqueur identitaire permettant la division d'une même société en factions antagonistes.
Cette division sur base de ce marqueur identitaire, l'Europe l'a connue au XVIIe siècle avec une « guerre de trente ans » qui a opposé des chrétiens, catholiques et protestants, de la Baltique à la Méditerranée.
Cette division, le monde arabe en fait aujourd'hui l'expérience avec une nouvelle guerre de trente ans opposant cette fois musulmans, sunnites et musulmans chiites, de l'Irak au Yémen.
Cette division, le Liban l'a connue au cours de sa longue guerre qui a commencé par opposer des chrétiens et des musulmans avant d'opposer des chrétiens entre eux dans la guerre appelée « guerre d'extermination », et des musulmans entre eux dans la guerre de l'Iqlim el-Touffah entre Amal et le Hezbollah.
La religion comme marqueur identitaire est nécessairement source de violence, car elle réduit l'individu à une seule des dimensions qui constituent son identité et bloque de ce fait même tout rapport à l'autre dont la différence devient source de menace.
Or, les religions dans leur diversité ont justement une mission commune, celle de faire comprendre aux hommes qu'ils sont condamnés pour survivre à coopérer ensemble. La relation à l'autre n'est pas un choix qu'on peut accepter ou refuser, mais une nécessité de vie.
Elle est une nécessité de vie parce qu'elle est la condition à notre autonomie individuelle. Nous n'existons qu'à travers l'autre. Il nous constitue de la même manière que nous le constituons.
Elle est également une nécessité de vie parce qu'elle permet, en limitant la rivalité et la violence, d'assurer la coopération nécessaire pour faire face au danger que représente l'accumulation de la puissance, désormais illimitée et potentiellement autodestructrice, sur les hommes et sur la nature.
Les religions peuvent-elles libérer de la violence ? Oui, si elles apportent une réponse à la question existentielle qui se pose à nous tous, partout dans le monde : comment vivre ensemble, égaux dans nos droits et nos devoirs, différents dans nos multiples appartenances religieuses, ethniques, culturelles, et solidaires dans notre recherche d'un avenir meilleur pour nous tous ?
Elles peuvent libérer de la violence si elles condamnent toutes les formes d'instrumentalisation de la religion à des fins politiques : l'instrumentalisation de la religion juive pour justifier la création en ce début du XXIe siècle d'un État juif qui serait une forme réinventée de l'apartheid, et l'instrumentalisation de la religion chrétienne pour justifier les dérives antisémites et islamophobes qui sont au fondement des politiques de l'extrême droite occidentale, et, enfin, l'instrumentalisation de la religion musulmane dans les luttes pour le pouvoir au sein même des sociétés musulmanes.
Les religions doivent, pour libérer les hommes de la violence, encourager le vivre-ensemble, car le contraire de la violence n'est pas l'arrêt de toute action violente dirigée contre l'autre, mais le lien à établir avec cet autre. Il ne s'agit pas d'aller chez cet autre pour devenir comme lui, ni d'amener cet autre chez nous pour le rendre semblable à nous. Au contraire, cette relation commence par la reconnaissance de l'autre dans sa différence et sa spécificité. Ce sont elles qui rendent le lien nécessaire et contribuent à constituer notre identité propre.
Ce lien à l'autre est nécessaire pour faire face aujourd'hui à cette montée aux extrêmes qui a conduit les médias à parler, après l'intervention russe en Syrie, de « troisième guerre mondiale ».
(1) Daniel Sallenave, « Le Monde » du 6 mai 2005
*Allocution prononcée au Salon du livre francophone du Biel, le 1er novembre, lors de la table ronde autour de l'ouvrage d'Ibrahim Tabet, « Le monothéisme, le pouvoir et la guerre, de la conversion de Constantin au jihad islamiste ».
http://www.lorientlejour.com/article/952734/la-religion-contre-la-violence.html

IRGC chief, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari. hints as Moscow-Tehran rift
BEIRUT /Now Lebanon/November 03/15– The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has hinted at a conflict of interest between Russia and Iran over the fate of Bashar al-Assad, saying that Moscow’s intervention in Syria aims to secure its own interests. Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, who claimed that most of the Syrian people support Assad, said “the northern friend [Russia] who came to Syria to [provide] military support recently [did so to serve] its [own] interests.”“[Russia] may not care if Assad stays as we do, but in any case [Moscow] is present [in Syria] now and may be compelled to stay out of ‘embarrassment’ or for other reasons,” Al-Arabiya quoted him as saying.
Jafari also said that Iran “does not see any alternative to Assad”—a position he said was shared by the country’s supreme leader and the. IRGC, according to the Saudi-owned channel. “There are some who do not understand this and are talking about an alternative to Assad.”Iranian news outlets carried similar versions of Jafari’s comments, which came during a speech delivered Monday at the “first Anti-America Forum” since the international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program was inked in mid-July. The Arabic-language Al-Alam news outlet quoted Jafari as saying that “Russia is following its interests in Syria.”“Assad’s remainder in power may not concern it as it concerns us, but in any case it is helping the resistance.”
Iran’s Mehr News Agency offered another version of Jafari’s quote, this time with him saying “our northern neighbor [Russia] is also providing assistance in Syria, but it is not happy with the Islamic resistance.”“In any case it is providing assistance on the basis of [our] shared interests. But it is not clear that Russia is aligned with Iran with regard to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.”Russia began its aerial bombardment campaign in Syria on September 30, striking rebels in the Homs, Hama, Latakia and Idlib provinces while also claiming to have hit ISIS targets further east. Despite Moscow’s claim it was hitting ISIS, most of its airstrikes have been conducted in coordination with Syrian regime ground operations against rebels in the northwest of the country. Just as Russia began its aerial bombardment campaign, reports began to emerge that Iran was deploying hundreds to troops to bolster the regime’s offensives in northwest Syria, while IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani conducted a tour of the frontlines.
On October 13, Pro-Hezbollah daily Al-Akhbar reported that the Iranian pointman had arrived in northern Syria to supervise the preparations for a massive offensive on the Aleppo front. The Lebanese newspaper said that Iran had begun to deploy troops to Syria to take part in a major ground operation aimed at pushing towards the Turkish border. Field sources told the daily that an unprecedented number of troops was being massed on the northern fronts adjacent to all of the militant positions from rural Hama to the Al-Ghab Plain and southern rural Idlib. Iran and Hezbollah have both made announcements that Russia is closely working with them as well as the Syrian and Iraqi governments under the auspices of a “4+1 coalition” aimed at coordinating join military activity. In the past month, at least 15 Iranian officers and soldiers have been killed in Syria, including General Farshad Hasounizad, the former head of the IRGC’s elite Saberin Brigade, and Hamid Mokhtarband, the former chief-of-staff of the 1st Brigade of Iran’s crack 92nd Armored Division, which is considered the country’s top armored unit. Their deaths followed the dramatic killing earlier in October of IRGC general Hussein Hamdani, who was one of the IRGC’s leading officers and the country’s top military advisor in Syria.

Will Turks Accept the Election Results?
Daniel Pipes/Cross-posted from National Review Online
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2015/11/will-turks-accept-the-election-results
[N.B.: NRO titled this analysis "Turkey's Election Results Stink of Fraud"]
Like other observers of Turkish politics, I was stunned on Nov. 1 when the ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, or AKP) was reported to have increased its share of the national vote since the last round of elections in June 2015 by 9 percent and its share of parliamentary seats by 11 percent. The polls had consistently shown the four major parties winning about the same number of seats as in June. This made intuitive sense; they represent mutually hostile outlooks (Islamist, leftist, Kurdish, nationalist), making substantial movement between them in under five months highly unlikely. That about one in nine voters switched parties defies reason. Polling results between the June and November 2015 Turkish elections. The AKP's huge increase gave it back the parliamentary majority it had lost in the June 2015 elections, promising President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a semi-legal path to the dictatorial powers he aspires to. But, to me, the results stink of fraud. It defies reason, for example, that the AKP's war on Kurds would prompt about a quarter of Turkey's Kurds to abandon the pro-Kurdish party and switch their vote to the AKP. As news of irregularities comes in, Michael Rubin of AEI summed up the problems at Commentary: Turkish political analysts attribute Erdoğan's cheating quotient at around 5 percent – that takes into account stuffed ballots, shenanigans on the state-run Turkish Airlines as it transports ballots from abroad, disappeared ballot boxes from opposition-run towns and districts, and pretty much everything involving the mayor of Ankara. In the case of Sunday's elections, it appears that Erdoğan's AKP won the votes of hundreds of thousands of dead people.. Given the history of fraud in Turkey's elections, that this one was rigged comes as no shock, especially as rumors swirled in advance about sophisticated efforts to manipulate the results. (For methods, think the Volkswagen emissions scam.) The citizens of Turkey now face the decisive question of whether to accept or reject the results of this election. Which will prevail – fear of Erdoğan's ruthlessness or anger at his swindle? Sadly, because his electoral coup d'état has blocked the path of democracy, should Turks resist, they are compelled to do so in non-democratic ways. (November 3, 2015)

Iranian Commander Killed in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 03/15/A senior officer in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards unit has been killed in Syria, the fourth Iranian commander to die there in the last month, the Fars news agency said Tuesday. Colonel Ezzatollah Soleimani died during an "advisory mission" near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, it said. Iranian media have since Saturday announced the deaths of five Iranians in Syria, bringing the total killed there to 20 since October 9. Among those have been four Revolutionary Guards commanders, including General Hossein Hamedani, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, who was killed by the Islamic State jihadist group near Aleppo. Iran supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and while it doesn't officially send troops to Syria, it has deployed military "advisers" to the war-torn country.

Syrian Minister Rules Out Transition Period
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 03/15/A "transition period" in Syria is out of the question because President Bashar Assad is the legitimate leader, the country's deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday. "There is no transition period. There exist official institutions that are functioning," Faisal Moqdad said on a visit to Tehran, Syria's state news agency SANA reported. "We are talking about a national dialogue, an enlarged government and a constitutional process, not a transitional period," he added. Moqdad's comments come after a round of international talks in Vienna last week to discuss a potential end to Syria's four-year conflict. Neither Syria's regime nor opposition were represented, but countries backing either side were present. A transitional government has long been discussed as part of a peace process to end Syria's conflict, from as early as 2012, when world powers met in Geneva to discuss the war. The fate of Assad has been a persistent sticking point in discussions on ending the conflict, however, with the regime and its backers insisting he will not be forced from power. "President Bashar Assad is the legitimate president elected by the Syrian people, and the world must respect that will," Moqdad said on Tuesday. Syria's opposition and its backers insist Assad can have no role in the country's future.

Russia gets intel from Syrian opposition, holds joint drill with U.S.
By Staff writer, Al Arabiya News Tuesday, 3 November 2015/Russia for the first time received coordinates from the Syrian opposition, and a Russian official said Moscow held join training exercises in Syrian with the U.S. air force. Russian jets on Tuesday bombed 24 targets in Syria after “opposition representatives” passed on coordinates, the defence ministry said, the first time Moscow has claimed to have worked with opposition groups during its air campaign. “The coordinates of all of these targets were given to us by opposition representatives,” senior military official Andrei Kartapolov said, without specifying which groups Moscow had cooperated with. Joint training exercise. Meanwhile, the Russian and U.S. air forces held a joint training exercise in Syria on Tuesday, Russian news agencies reported, citing a general with Russia’s armed forces. Interfax news agency also reported, citing General Andrei Kartapolov, that Russia and Israel were informing each other continually on the situation in Syrian airspace.(With AFP and Reuters)

Emir of Kuwait to meet Putin in Russia next week
By Reuters, Moscow Tuesday, 3 November 2015/The emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, will meet Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Russian city of Sochi on Nov. 10, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. Sheikh Sabah and Putin will discuss situation in the Middle East and North Africa, it added in a statement.

Air strikes kill 23 in ISIS’s Syria ‘capital’
AFP, Beirut Tuesday, 3 November 2015/Warplanes pounded the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group’s de facto Syrian capital Raqa on Tuesday, killing at least 23 people including 13 jihadists, a monitoring group said. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said either the regime or Russian airforce was believed to have carried out the strikes. “Thirteen members of ISIS and 10 civilians were killed in at least 16 air raids on the group’s positions and premises in several parts of Raqa city,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. He said the toll relied on information from only one hospital in the area because of security restrictions and that the number of dead could be higher. ISIS seized Raqa in January 2014, expelling various rebel groups who had seized it from the regime the previous year. Since then it has become the de facto Syrian capital of the territory controlled by the group, which it dubs an Islamic “caliphate”. The town has been targeted by Syrian government air strikes and raids launched by Russia since it began an aerial campaign in late September. A U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS has also bombed the city in the past. Elsewhere, the Observatory said a Kurdish-Arab alliance had advanced against ISIS in the northeastern province of Hasakeh. The Observatory said at least seven ISIS fighters had been killed in clashes with the Syrian Democratic Forces and air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition on Tuesday. The SDF said Saturday it had begun its first offensive since announcing the coalition last month against ISIS in Hasakeh province.

Israel keeps its own counsel on Assad as big powers wade into Syria
By Reuters, Jerusalem Tuesday, 3 November 2015/Israel is no longer taking a public position on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s prospects of staying in power, its defence minister said on Tuesday, citing the opposing goals of the United States and Russia as they intervene in the civil war. Seeing enemies on all sides of the insurgency that erupted in the neighbouring Arab state in 2011, Israel has been formally neutral but initially called for Assad to be toppled, arguing this would deny its arch-foe Iran a key ally in the Levant. That view hewed to the strategy of the United States and its Arab partners, which back some Syrian rebels and say Assad has lost legitimacy to lead. But with Assad holding on and now helped by a Russian military intervention, Israel has gone mum. “What is our policy in Syria? We say: We do not intervene. We have an opinion as to what we would like to be there. But we are not in a position nor do we have the status, for sensitive reasons, to say we are in favour of Assad or against Assad,” Yaalon said in a speech to a farm collective near Jerusalem. At a rare but inconclusive round of talks in Vienna on Friday that brought together many of the main countries involved in Syria, “the Russians were in favour (of Assad), the Americans were against, the Turks were against, the Saudis were against, the Iranians were in favour”, Yaalon said. “We are not at that level. We deal with our own interests,” he said, reiterating “red lines” that Israel says will trigger military action by it if crossed - attacks from Syria or attempted transfers to Lebanon’s Hezbollah or other militias of advanced weapons systems or chemical warfare agents. To avoid accidentally trading fire and becoming entangled in the fighting, Israel has agreed with Russia to coordinate military action over Syria. Various forces clashing in Syria have at times tried to discredit each other with charges of collaboration with Israel. Yaalon said Israel had armed no side in the civil war and provided only limited humanitarian aid to villages on the Syrian Golan Heights next to lines it holds on the strategic plateau. This assistance had been conditioned on the recipients pledging to keep Islamist insurgents away and not to attack Syrian Druze Arabs, whose brethren in Israel have pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help the imperilled community. “We do not supply weaponry, but humanitarian (aid), yes. On two conditions: You do not allow the jihadis to get to the (Golan) fence, and you do not touch the Druze, who are a sensitive issue for us. And it works - ad hoc agreements on the basis of common interests,” Yaalon said.

Russia says no change in its view on Assad
By Reuters, Moscow Tuesday, 3 November 2015/Russia’s Foreign Ministry has not changed its view on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - his fate should be decided by Syrian people, Russian agencies quoted ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying on Tuesday. “I can confirm that Russia’s position on resolving the Syrian (crisis) has not changed,” she was quoted as saying by TASS news agency. Earlier, Zakharova said keeping Assad in power is not crucial for Russia, local news agency RIA quoted her as saying on Tuesday, signalling a possible change in its policy towards Moscow's long-standing ally. When asked if saving Assad was a matter of principal for Russia, Zakharova said: “Absolutely not, we never said that.”“We are not saying that Assad should leave or stay,” she added. The statement added that the views of Russia, which have long differed between those of the United States and Saudi Arabia, who both want Assad to step down - partially agree on which parts of Syrian opposition can be part of a Syria peace dialogue. The comments come at a time when Russia is pursuing a double-pronged strategy: to bolster Assad's position by bombing rebel groups, which it started in late September; and pushing diplomatic initiatives in an attempt to bring an end to the conflict. The war, which pits Assad and allies against a plethora of rebel groups, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has lasted over 4 years and claimed over 250,000 lives. On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet the U.N.'s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura in Moscow. Last week, Russian delegates, together with other world powers, including the U.S., UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Iran met in Vienna to begin a new framework for peace talks.

Turkish warplanes bomb Kurdish rebel bases: army
By AFP, Ankara Tuesday, 3 November 2015/Turkish warplanes have bombed bases of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey and northern Iraq, the army said on Tuesday. “Shelters, caves and arms depots identified as being used by terrorists from the separatist terrorist organisation were destroyed with air bombardments,” the military said. Monday’s air strikes targeted PKK bases in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern province of Hakkari near the Iraqi border, as well as several regions in northern Iraq including their main stronghold on Qandil mountain. The latest army operation comes just after the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) swept back to power in Sunday’s election. The government has waged a new war against the PKK and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants since July, shattering a fragile 2013 truce with the Kurdish rebels. The PKK conflict resumed after a bombing on pro-Kurdish activists in the border town of Suruc in July that killed 34 people and was blamed on ISIS. Kurdish rebels launched an armed campaign for greater autonomy in southeastern Turkey in 1984 and the conflict has since claimed 45,000 lives.

Rare cyclone batters Yemen, thousands flee homes
By Reuters, Cairo Tuesday, 3 November 2015/A cyclone with hurricane-force winds made landfall on Yemen’s Arabian Sea coast on Tuesday, flooding the country’s fifth-largest city Mukalla and sending thousands of people fleeing for shelter. Officials and meteorologists say the storm is the most intense in decades in the arid country, whose storm response is hampered by poverty and a raging civil war. In the provincial capital Mukalla, whose 300,000 people are largely ruled by al Qaeda fighters since the army withdrew in April, water submerged cars on city streets and caused dozens of families to flee to a hospital for fear of rock slides. Residents said the seafront promenade and many homes had been destroyed by the cyclone, called Chapala, and officials in the dry hinterland province of Shabwa said about 6,000 people had moved to higher ground. “The wind knocked out power completely in the city and people were terrified. Some residents had to leave their homes and escape to higher areas where flooding was less; it was a difficult night but it passed off peacefully,” said Sabri Saleem, who lives in Mukalla. There were no initial reports of injuries. An al Qaeda militant on Twitter prayed for deliverance from the storm and said that a U.S. pilotless drone was flying especially low over the city, where the militant group’s deputy leader was killed in an air strike in June. “May God cause it to crash,” said the man, going by the name of Laith al-Mukalla. “God spare us your wrath, and place the rains in heart of the valleys and mountains.”The cyclone first hit the remote Yemeni island of Socotra, killing three people and displacing thousands. An island of natural beauty, Socotra is home to hundreds of plant species found nowhere else on Earth and lies 380 km (238 miles) off Yemen in the Arabian Sea. Its 50,000 residents speak their own language. Meteorological agencies predicted Chapala would hit land around Balhaf, site of Yemen’s liquefied natural gas terminal, and weakening as it advanced towards the capital Sanaa in the country’s north. The facility has been mostly shuttered since the start of a war in March between a Saudi-led Arab military coalition and the Iran-allied Houthi movement which controls Sanaa. It was not immediately clear if the terminal, once a lifeline for Yemen’s weak economy, suffered damage.

Russia steps up push for Syria peace deal, proposes talks
Jack Stubbs, Reuters, Moscow Tuesday, 3 November 2015/Syrian government officials and members of the country’s splintered opposition could meet in Moscow next week as Russia pushes to broker a political solution to the crisis, a senior official said on Tuesday. “Next week, we will invite opposition representatives to a consultation in Moscow,” Interfax news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying. “The meeting ... will possibly be with the participation of government representatives,” Bogdanov said. He did not say which opposition members could attend. After initially dismissing Syrian opposition groups fighting its regional ally President Bashar al-Assad, Moscow has shown increasing flexibility as it steps up diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict that has killed some 250,000 and displaced millions. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura in Moscow on Wednesday to discuss attempts to start a dialogue between Damascus and the Syrian opposition, Moscow's foreign ministry said. At international peace talks in Vienna on Friday, where Russia was the leading player, Moscow said it wanted opposition groups to participate in future discussions on the Syria crisis and exchanged a list of 38 names with Saudi Arabia. The list included mostly former and current members of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (SNC), Syria’s Western-backed political opposition block, Kommersant newspaper reported on Tuesday. Among those named were former SNC head Moaz al-Khatib and incumbent president Khaled Khoja, the daily reported, as well as representatives from a diverse range of political, religious and ethnic groups including the Muslim Brotherhood and a Christian pro-democracy movement. Khoja said last week a Russian campaign of air strikes in Syria was intended to prop up Assad and had helped ISIS militants who have taken control of large swathes of the country. The SNC has been accused of slipping into virtual irrelevance on the battlefield in Syria as Islamist and Kurdish groups have grown stronger. But it remains one of the main parties in international discussions to end the four-year-old civil war. The coalition boycotted Syria peace talks held in Russia in January and April, distrustful of the Kremlin and dismissing Damascus rivals who attended as token opposition, but it sent a delegation to Moscow in August. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday it was inappropriate to link Russia’s military strategy in Syria with the results of an investigation into an airplane crash in Egypt over the weekend in which over 200 people died.

Turkey rebuffs intl complaints of media crackdown
Agencies Tuesday, 3 November 2015/The Turkish government on Tuesday rejected Western criticism over the state of press freedom in the country after claims of media intimidation during the weekend election. “There is no pressure on the media. Nobody is forced to be silent in this country,” Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said in a television interview, while warning that the media could not enjoy limitless immunity. The White House on Monday voiced concerns at the “intimidation” of Turkish journalists during the campaign for Sunday’s election that bolstered the already strong hand of longtime leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP). International observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) also charged that the vote was marred by a media crackdown, violence and other security concerns.
Journalists charged with ‘coup plot’
Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday charged two opposition journalists with plotting a coup over a magazine cover criticizing Erdogan’s election win, the magazine said. “Nokta editor-in-chief Cevheri Guven and managing editor Murat Capan were arrested on charges of attempting to overthrow the government by force,” the magazine wrote on Twitter. Police on Monday had raided the Istanbul offices of the left-wing Nokta and detained the two editors over the cover that read: “The start of civil war in Turkey.” An Istanbul court later ordered that the magazine’s latest edition be withdrawn from the shelves, accusing it of inciting the public to commit a crime. The move comes after Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) swept to an unexpected victory in an election on Sunday which international observers said was marred by a media crackdown, violence and other security concerns.Just days ahead of the election, riot police stormed two television stations by the Koza-Ipek conglomerate over its links with a U.S.-exiled cleric who is now Erdogan's arch-foe, action that caused global alarm. Nokta had been raided in September by the authorities for another cover satirising Erdogan.
Turkey detains 35 people in raids
Turkish police detained 35 people including senior bureaucrats and police officers in the western province of Izmir on Tuesday in an operation targeting supporters of Erdogan’s foe, Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, media reported. The raids came two days after the AK Party, which Erdogan founded, secured a return to single-party rule, in an election result he cast as a vote for stability but which opponents fear heralds growing authoritarianism. The Dogan news agency said Tuesday’s dawn raids were carried out at various addresses across Izmir in an operation against the ‘parallel structure,” a term used to refer to U.S.-based cleric Gulen’s supporters in the state apparatus. The suspects were taken to the offices of the city’s organized crime unit, Dogan said. (With Reuters, AFP)

Russia confirms sending wheat to Syria as aid
By Reuters, Moscow Tuesday, 3 November 2015/Russian Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said Russia had provided Syria with around 100,000 tonnes of wheat as aid, RIA news agency has quoted him as saying. “I confirm that Russia has sent Syria 100,000 tonnes of wheat,” he told RIA, confirming an earlier Reuters report that cited sources.

Iraq warmonger Ahmad Chalabi dies
Tuesday, 3 November 2015/Ahmed Chalabi, an Iraqi politician accused of providing false information that led to the United States toppling longtime dictator Saddam Hussein in the 2003 invasion, died on Tuesday of a heart attack, state television and two parliamentarians said. Attendants found the controversial lawmaker, 71, dead in bed in his Baghdad home, according to parliament official Haitham al-Jabouri. During his heyday, the smooth-talking Chalabi was widely seen as the man who helped push the U.S. and its main ally Britain into invading Iraq in 2003, with information that Saddam’s government had weapons of mass destruction, claims that were eventually discredited. Ahmed Chalabi, center, the former Pentagon favourite in Iraq, exits a courthouse flanked by security guards in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 12, 2009. (AP) Chalabi had also said Saddam - known for his secularist Baathist ideology - had ties with al-Qaeda. After Saddam’s fall by U.S.-led coalition forces, Chalabi returned from exile in Britain and the United States. Despite having been considered as a potential candidate for the powerful post of prime minister in the immediate aftermath of Saddam’s 24-year reign, the politician never managed to rise to the top of Iraq’s stormy, sectarian-driven political landscape. His eventual fallout with his former American allies also hurt his chances of becoming an Iraqi leader. “The neo-cons wanted to make a case for war and he [Chalabi] was somebody who is willing to provide them with information that would help their cause,” Ali Khedery, who was the longest continuously-serving American official in Iraq in the years following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, told Al Arabiya News. Khedery, who today heads up Dubai-based political advisory Dragoman Partners, added that the interests of both the U.S. and Chalabi “intersected” at the time. Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the Accountability and Justice Committee and a candidate with the Iraqi National Alliance, right, speaks with fellow candidate Ali Bin al-Hussein, at a campaign event in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010. (AP)
Chilcot inquiry
Chalabi’s death comes days after it was announced that the findings of a long-awaited UK government investigation into the Iraq war, known as the Chilcot inquiry, would be released in June or July next year. There have been several delays in the release date of the inquiry, which is investigating decisions and mistakes made in Britain’s planning and execution of the 2003 invasion. However, analysts deem Chalabi’s death as insignificant to the inquiry. “No, I don’t think they interviewed him and even if they had, he would have maintained the same story as always, which is that he provided the best information available at the time,” Khedery said. Ghassan Attiyah, who is president of the Iraqi Foundation for Development and Democracy, voiced doubts that Chalabi’s death would have any effect on the British probe. “The inquiry is concerned with the Blair government. Chalabi will not enhance or delay the report,” he said. In October, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, apologized for aspects of the Iraq war in an interview with CNN, although some commentators said the gesture was too little, too late. ‘End justified the means’ for Chalabi. Born in 1944, Chalabi left Iraq in 1956 and spent most of his life in Britain and the United States, where he received a doctorate degree in mathematics. He organized a Kurdish uprising in northern Iraq in the mid-1990s, a conflict that took the lives of hundreds of people. He later fled the region, returning only when U.S.-led invading forces took control a decade later. Key figures in the-then U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration hoped Chalabi and his party, the Iraqi National Congress, might take over Iraq after the fall of Saddam, but the group failed to gain both recognition and support in the war-wracked country. However, he briefly managed to become president of the U.S.-installed provisional administration, the Iraqi Governing Council, for one month in 2003. For a one-year period from May 2005, he also served as Iraq’s deputy prime minister. During his time as a politician in Iraq, he switched sides after he failed to win a seat in parliament in the Dec. 2005 elections. Despite his liberal background, Chalabi later joined Islamists to garner a wider base of support. Attiyah described Chalabi as a “controversial, survivalist, loner” politician who was later unable to obtain any seat after a run as an independent candidate. Yet “[Chalabi] managed to survive in Iraq and was able to create a strong financial base to sustain his political efforts,” he said. Chalabi was also tried and sentenced to prison in his absence in Jordan in 1992 for financial fraud in the collapse of a bank, this background added more to people’s mistrust of him. In addition to siding with Islamists in an effort to gain more political clout, Chalabi also appeared to support his country’s powerful neighbor Iran. He was accused of providing information to the Islamic Republic after the 2003 invasion, which would put him at odds with Washington. “He worked with the Americans and then he moved to operate with the Iranians, [but] later he ultimately lost trust of both parties,” Attiyah said. In essence, Chalabi was “an example of a person who is driven by power and could justify any means to reach it, that’s why he lost the trust of so many people,” said Attiyah. “His death is a tragic end to a politician who thought he would be a rising star, yet [ultimately] ended in disappointment.”

Graphic video shows Afghan woman stoned to death for eloping
By AFP, Kabul Tuesday, 3 November 2015/A young Afghan woman who was married against her will has been stoned to death by extremists after she was caught eloping with another man, local officials told AFP Tuesday. Graphic video of the stoning shows the woman, named as Rokhsahana and aged between 19 and 21, in a hole in the ground as men almost casually hurl stones at her with sickening thuds. Rokhsahana can be heard repeating the shahada, or Muslim profession of faith, her voice growing increasingly high-pitched in the nearly 30-second clip run in Afghan media. Local authorities confirmed the footage. The killing took place about a week ago in Ghalmeen, an area some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Ghor provincial capital of Firozkoh, governor Seema Joyenda said. Rokhsahana had been “stoned to death by Taliban, local religious leaders and irresponsible armed warlords,” Joyenda told AFP. Joyenda, one of Afghanistan’s only two female governors, said that according to authorities’ information Rokhsahana’s family had “married her to someone against her will and she was eloping with a man her age”.She condemned the stoning, calling on Kabul to take action to “clean the area”. “This is the first incident in this area but will not be the last. Women in general have problems all over the country, but especially in Ghor... The man with whom she was eloping has not been stoned.” Ghor police chief Mustafa Mohseni told AFP that the incident happened in a Taliban-controlled area, confirming that it was the first such incident “this year”.

Rights group slams Syria rebels for 'human shields'
By AFP, Beirut Tuesday, 3 November 2015/Human Rights Watch has accused Syrian rebel groups outside Damascus of war crimes after they placed hostages including civilians in cages for use as “human shields” to deter government strikes. Video posted over the weekend showed dozens of captives, among them soldiers and civilians, in cages being transported to different parts of the Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the powerful Jaish al-Islam group had placed the caged captives in public squares to deter government bombing. Human Rights Watch said the practice “constitutes hostage-taking and an outrage against their personal dignity, which are both war crimes.”“Nothing can justify caging people and intentionally putting them in harm’s way, even if the purpose is to stop indiscriminate government attacks,” said HRW deputy Middle East director Nadim Houry. “Ending Syria’s downward spiral requires international backers of armed groups as well as the government to make protecting civilians a top priority.” The rights group noted that a similar practice was reported in September, in two government-held Shiite towns under rebel siege in Idlib province. There images emerged purporting to show captured rebels placed in a cage on a building in one of the villages to deter opposition shelling. Eastern Ghouta is a rebel stronghold outside Damascus and a frequent target of heavy and bloody government air strikes and shelling. At least 70 people were killed and 550 wounded in government attacks on Douma, in Eastern Ghouta, last week, according to non-governmental organisation Doctors Without Borders. Rebels in the region regularly bombard the capital, and rights groups have condemned both sides for their indiscriminate fire. More than 250,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests. All sides in the complex civil war have been accused of abuses of varying degrees, including the use of banned weapons, torture, arbitrary arrest and execution.

Netanyahu’s peace efforts all talk, says Peres
By Aron Heller, The Associated Press Tuesday, 3 November 2015/Over a seven-decade career in politics, Shimon Peres has helped guide Israel through wars and existential threats. But now, with the country embroiled in a new wave of violence, the 92-year-old elder statesman worries that if its leaders do not get serious about pursuing peace with the Palestinians, it will be in an eternal state of war and risk losing its Jewish majority. In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, the former president stopped short of directly criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But he also made no secret that the values he and the assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin inherited from Israel's founding father, David Ben-Gurion, were in jeopardy. "Better to have a Jewish state on part of the land than have the whole land without the Jewish state," he said. "Israel should implement the two-state solution for her own sake because if we should lose our majority, and today we are almost equal, we cannot remain a Jewish state or a democratic state. "That's the main issue, and to my regret they (the government) do the opposite." Peres negotiated the first interim peace accord with the Palestinians in 1993, known as the Oslo Accords, which set into motion a partition plan that gave the Palestinians limited self-rule. But after a fateful six-month period in 1995-96 that included Rabin's assassination, a spate of Palestinian suicide bombings and Peres' own election loss to Netanyahu, the prospects for peace began to evaporate.
Today, senior members of Netanyahu's hard-line government have declared Oslo dead, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas irrelevant and a Palestinian state nothing but a dangerous fantasy. Netanyahu only begrudgingly accepted the concept of a Palestinian state in 2009. But he never appeared to fully embrace it and has since distanced himself from the comments. Netanyahu accuses Abbas of inciting a current six-week wave of Palestinian attacks and just recently said Israel had to accept that peace is unlikely and continue living "by the sword."Those comments clearly rankled Peres, who had previously negotiated on Netanyahu's behalf with Abbas and still considers the Palestinian leader Israel's best potential partner for peace. "The alternative to two states is a continued war and nobody can maintain a war forever. If you say we should live on our sword don't forget that there are other swords as well," he said. Peres said that Netanyahu's peace overtures have never "escaped the domain of talking.""A politician and a government should be judged by one way only, on the record of what you do or did, not on what you say," he said. Peres has filled nearly every position in Israeli public life since he became the director general of the Defense Ministry at the age of 25 and spearheaded the development of Israel's nuclear program. A protégé of Ben-Gurion, Peres was first elected to parliament in 1959.
He has since held every major Cabinet post — including defense, finance and foreign affairs — and served three brief stints as prime minister. His key role in the first Israeli-Palestinian peace accord earned him a Nobel Peace Prize — along with Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat — and stature abroad as a revered statesman. Since finishing his seven-year term as president last summer, Peres has continued promoting peace and development in the Middle East through his non-governmental Peres Peace Center.A self-described eternal optimist, Peres says he doesn't like to think of the past, calling it a "waste of time."But on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Rabin's killing by an ultra-nationalist Jewish extremist opposed to his peace efforts, he candidly recalled the night that many see as a turning point in Israeli history. He said the massive peace rally in Tel Aviv on Nov. 4, 1995 was the happiest day in Rabin's life and the best moment in their decades-long tortured rivalry. "We were in a total agreement and really we were encouraged," he said. He said moments before they were set to leave the stage together in a show of unity, Israel's Shin Bet security agency informed them of a threat to both their lives — from an Arab, not a Jew. Peres descended the stairs ahead of Rabin and stood in front of the open door of his car when the three deadly shots rang out. His security guards shoved him into the vehicle and whisked him away. At the hospital, doctors informed Peres that Rabin had died and he broke the news to Rabin's widow, Leah. Then they both saw the body and he kissed Rabin on the forehead. "His face was happy, like a man who finally got complete rest," he said. "I am sure that if he were alive he would have made peace with the Palestinians as well."

Russia rejects linking its plan in Syria with jet crash
Staff writer, Al Arabiya News Tuesday, 3 November 2015/The Kremlin said on Tuesday it was inappropriate to link Russia’s military strategy in Syria with the recent jet crash in Egypt after the Arab country’s President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi dismissed “propaganda” claims by a branch of ISIS that they were responsible for downing a Russian plane. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Tuesday that it was inappropriate to link Russia’s military strategy in Syria with the results of an investigation into an airplane crash in Egypt over the weekend in which over 200 people died.Earlier, Sisi told BBC that “when there is propaganda that it crashed because of ISIS, this is one way to damage the stability and security of Egypt and the image of Egypt.”His remarks came as a top U.S. intelligence official said it was “unlikely” ISIS had been involved in the Kogalymavia airline disaster over the Sinai peninsula that killed 224 people on Saturday. “Believe me, the situation in Sinai -- especially in this limited area -- is under our full control,” he added. “All those interested in the matter are welcome to participate in the investigation.” Egyptian activists stand in front of the Russian embassy while holding placards in solidarity with the Russian passengers who died in Saturday's plane crash over Sinai, in Cairo. (Reuters). Investigators on Tuesday began examining the black boxes from the Russian airliner, an Egyptian aviation ministry official told AFP. The examination of the black boxes -- one which recorded onboard conversations and the other flight data -- started around mid-day, the official said on condition of anonymity. Experts say the fact that debris and bodies were strewn over such a wide area points to mid-air disintegration of the aircraft. On Monday, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said he could not rule out ISIS involvement in Saturday's incident, but thought it "unlikely". "We don't have any direct evidence of any terrorist involvement yet," he said. Earlier Monday the airline said the plane had come down due to "external" factors and ruled out any technical failure or human error in the disaster. "The only explanation is some kind of external action," senior Kogalymavia executive Alexander Smirnov told a news conference in Moscow, without elaborating. Debris of a Russian airplane is seen at the site a day after the passenger jet bound for St. Petersburg, Russia, crashed in Hassana, Egypt, on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015. (AP) However, Alexander Neradko, head of Russia's aviation authority, criticized the airline's comments, saying they were "premature and not based on any real facts". Analysis of the plane's "black boxes", which could solve the mystery of what happened to the doomed jet, is expected to begin on Tuesday, according to Egyptian officials. Relatives of victims of a Russian airliner which crashed in Egypt, mourns at a hotel near Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg, Russia, October 31, 2015. (Reuters) Analysts have dismissed claims the jet could have been shot down by ISIS-affiliated groups in the region if it was flying at its cruising height of 30,000 feet (9,000 meters), but did not rule out that a bomb may have been planted on board. (With AFP)

Obama pushes ‘no boots on ground’ Syria pledge
Reuters, Washington Tuesday, 3 November 2015/President Barack Obama said on Monday the planned deployment of dozens of U.S. special forces to Syria to advise opposition forces fighting ISIS did not break his promise not to put "boots on the ground" in the Syrian conflict. "Keep in mind that we have run special ops already and really this is just an extension of what we are continuing to do," Obama said in an interview on "NBC Nightly News" in his first public comments on the deployment since it was announced on Friday. "We are not putting U.S. troops on the front lines fighting firefights with ISIL," Obama said, using another acronym for ISIS. "I have been consistent throughout that we are not going to be fighting like we did in Iraq with battalions and occupations. That doesn't solve the problem." In announcing the measure, the White House said the troops would be on a mission to "train, advise and assist" and would number fewer than 50. The introduction of U.S. forces on the ground marks a shift after more than a year of limiting the Syria mission to air strikes against ISIS. Before last year, Obama, who has been averse to committing troops to Middle East wars, had ruled out an American presence on the ground in Syria. In a nationally televised address in September 2013, Obama said: "I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria." Over the past year, however, he has emphasized that he would not send U.S. "combat" troops there. The Obama administration is under pressure to ramp up the U.S. effort against ISIS, particularly after the militant group captured the Iraqi city of Ramadi in May and following the failure of a U.S. military program to train and arm thousands of Syrian rebels. Russia and Iran have increased their military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's fight against rebels in the 4-1/2-year-old civil war.

U.N. pushes for final Libyan unity agreement
By Patrick Markey Reuters, Tripoli Tuesday, 3 November 2015/The United Nations on Monday urged Libya's warring factions to agree on a unity government after they were offered proposals to ease concerns over regional distribution in a U.N.-backed power-sharing deal. The U.N. said in a statement after consultations with both sides that a proposed presidential council would be expanded from six to nine members, including a prime minister, five deputy premiers and three senior ministers. Members of Libya's two rival parliaments were scheduled to meet separately to discuss the U.N. proposal on Tuesday. The product of months of negotiations, the U.N. proposal for a national government includes members of both factions and attempts to reflect Libya's traditional regional balance. Hardliners have resisted the deal. Four years after the fall of Muammar Qaddafi, the North African state is mired in a conflict between two rival governments and loose coalitions of armed factions that back them in a struggle for control. Libya's recognized government and its elected parliament have operated out of the eastern city of Tobruk since the Libyan Dawn armed faction took over the capital Tripoli last year, set up a government and reinstated the former parliament. The country has no national army. Rebel militias fought together against Qaddafi in 2011, but then turned against one another and are often more loyal to their cities or tribes or Libya's east, west or southern regions than to the state. Western governments see the U.N. deal as the best option to deal with Libya's crisis, which has allowed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters to gain ground and people smugglers to take advantage of the chaos to ship thousands of migrants to Europe. The European Union says a unity government would bring more financial aid and training support to rebuild a national army, but officials are also mulling sanctions against political leaders who block a deal.

Why Palestinians Do Not Want Cameras on the Temple Mount
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/November 03/15
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6798/temple-mount-cameras
The Palestinian Authority (PA) will continue to work against having cameras in the hope of preventing the world from seeing what is really happening at the site and undermining Jordan's "custodianship" over Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.
Another reason the Palestinians oppose King Abdullah's idea is their fear that cameras would expose that Palestinians have been smuggling stones, firebombs and pipe bombs into the Al-Aqsa Mosque for the past two years.
The cameras are also likely to refute the claim that Jews are "violently invading" Al-Aqsa Mosque and holding prayers on the Temple Mount. The cameras will show that Jews do not enter Al-Aqsa Mosque, as Palestinians have been claiming. Needless to say, no Jewish visitors have been caught trying to smuggle weapons into the holy site.
It remains to be seen how Secretary Kerry, who brokered the camera deal between Israel and Jordan, will react to the latest Palestinian Authority escalation of tensions. If Kerry fails to pressure the PA to stop its incitement and attempts to exclude the Jordanians from playing any positive role, the current wave of knife attacks against Jews will continue.
Why is the Palestinian Authority (PA) opposed to Jordan's proposal to install surveillance cameras at Jerusalem's Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount), sacred to Christians, Muslims and Jews?
This is the question that many in Jordan have been asking in light of the recent agreement between Israel and Jordan that was reached under the auspices of US Secretary of State John Kerry. The idea was first raised by Jordan's King Abdullah in a bid to ease tensions at the holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Shortly after Israel accepted the idea, the Palestinian Authority rushed to denounce it as a "new trap." PA Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki and other officials in Ramallah expressed concern that Israel would use the cameras to "arrest Palestinians under the pretext of incitement."
During the past two years, the Palestinian Authority and other parties, including Hamas and the Islamic Movement (Northern Branch) in Israel, have been waging a campaign of incitement against Jewish visits to the Haram al-Sharif. The campaign claimed that Jews were planning to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In an attempt to prevent Jews from entering the approximately 37-acre (150,000 m2) site, the Palestinian Authority and the Islamic Movement in Israel hired scores of Muslim men and women to harass the Jewish visitors and the police officers escorting them. The men are referred to as Murabitoun, while the women are called Murabitat (defenders or guardians of the faith).
These men and women have since been filmed shouting and trying to assault Jews and policemen at the Haram al-Sharif. This type of video evidence is something that the Palestinian Authority is trying to avoid. The PA, together with the Islamic Movement, wants the men and women to continue harassing the Jews under the pretext of "defending" the Al-Aqsa Mosque from "destruction" and "contamination."
Hundreds of Muslims on the Temple Mount, yelling and throwing objects, surround three Jewish men and their children, as about a dozen police officers try to hold back the angry crowd and evacuate the Jews.
The installation of surveillance cameras at the site will expose the aggressive behavior of the Murabitoun and Murabitat, and show the world who is really "desecrating" the Islamic holy sites and turning them into a base for assaulting and abusing Jewish visitors and policemen.
The cameras are also likely to refute the claim that Jews are "violently invading" Al-Aqsa Mosque and holding prayers at the Temple Mount. The Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the Islamic Movement have long been describing the Jewish visits as a "provocative and violent incursion" into Al-Aqsa Mosque. But now the cameras will show that Jews do not enter Al-Aqsa Mosque, as the Palestinians have been claiming.
Another reason the Palestinians are opposed to King Abdullah's idea is their fear that the cameras would expose that Palestinians have been smuggling stones, firebombs and pipe bombs into Al-Aqsa Mosque for the past two years. These are scenes at the PA, Hamas and the Islamic Movement do not want the world to see: they show who is really "contaminating" the Haram al-Sharif. Needless to say, no Jewish visitors have thus far been caught trying to smuggle such weapons into the holy site.
Palestinian Arab young men with masks, inside Al-Aqsa Mosque (some wearing shoes), stockpile rocks to use for throwing at Jews who visit the Temple Mount, September 27, 2015.
By rejecting the idea of setting up 24-hour surveillance cameras at the Haram al-Sharif, the Palestinian Authority has found itself on a course of collision with Jordan. Jordanian politicians and columnists have voiced outrage over the stance of the PA, and have dubbed it harmful to Palestinian and Islamic interests.
The Jordanian newspaper Al-Ghad, which is close to the government, quoted Jordanian politicians as denouncing the opposition of the Palestinian Authority to the cameras as "inappropriate, clumsy, tasteless and unfair."
Sources in Ramallah explained this week that the PA's opposition to cameras should also be seen in the context of the power struggle between the Palestinians and Jordan over control of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem. The Jordanians have long been seeking to preserve their status as "custodians" of Al-Aqsa Mosque and other Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem. This is a status that some Palestinians and the Islamic Movement in Israel have been trying to change during the past two decades, especially after the signing of the Oslo Accords between the PLO and Israel in 1993.
The Palestinian Authority's opposition to the installation of cameras is seen as an attempt to undermine Jordan's status at the Islamic holy sites. Many Palestinians argue that they, and not the Jordanians, should be in charge of the Haram al-Sharif. Members of the PA are opposed to the cameras because it is a Jordanian proposal and reinforces Jordan's role at the holy site.
As such, the Palestinian Authority's position could be seen as an attempt to change the status quo at the holy site by driving the Jordanians out of the area. King Abdullah is obviously aware of the Palestinian attempt to prevent him from playing any role at the holy site; that is why he was quick to reach a deal with Israel about the installation of cameras. The PA, meanwhile, will continue to work against having cameras in the hope of preventing the world from seeing what is really happening at the site and undermining Jordan's "custodianship" over Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.
It now remains to be seen how Secretary Kerry, who brokered the camera deal between Israel and Jordan, will react, if at all, to the latest Palestinian Authority attempt to continue escalating tensions at the holy site. If Kerry fails to pressure the PA to stop its incitement and repeated attempts to exclude the Jordanians from playing any positive role at the Haram al-Sharif, the current wave of knife attacks against Jews will continue.
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Nothing but a dead end with Putin
Jamal Khashoggi/Al Arabiya/November 03/15
Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to trick the Saudis and Turks by suggesting an impossible solution, which looks peaceful but simply duplicates the same system rejected by the Syrian people, but without President Bashar al-Assad, as if the problem lies in his presence only. I do not believe that Putin is ignorant of the current state of the region or the reality of the Syrian situation. He knows the rules well. However, he is taking for granted that Russia is a superpower that no one wants to confront directly. He is also taking advantage of some regional powers’ reluctance or fear of change caused by the Arab Spring. They are willing to accept an ugly regime, even a pro-Iran one threatening Arab national security, but not an Islamic democratic force that will inevitably govern in Damascus once the regime falls. Putin is using old Machiavellian tactics and time-wasting techniques through useless contacts and initiatives. Nine points are shortened to seven after a round of negotiations, then a new point is added after the third round, while the killing machine pursues its war on the Syrian revolution in collaboration with sectarian partners Iran, Iraq, Hezbollah and the Syrian regime.
Opposing positions
Putin knows that the Saudis and Turks will not let Assad remain in power. If he stays, war will continue. If he wins, so will Iran. Neither do they or Qatar want a war that will freeze their interests in terms of trade, oil and gas, nor do they want Iran in Syria. This is not a political stand open to negotiation, but an unchangeable and consistent strategic position.. Putin knows that the Saudis and Turks will not let Assad remain in power. If he stays, war will continue. If he wins, so will Iran. Putin also has a consistent political position. He and Iran know that they have no future in the eastern Mediterranean if the Syrian revolution triumphs. In that case, they will be viewed by the Syrian people the same way Iran perceives the United States after 1979 “Islamic “ revolution . which become a political ideology that lasted 35 years until the nuclear deal was signed in June. . It will take one or two generations for Syrians to overcome their hatred of Russia and Iran. This is why these two countries need to produce a new regime similar to Assad’s to govern Syria in the future: sectarian, undemocratic and repressive, but without his family. However, such a rearrangement is unrealizable in six months or even a year, as the Saudis have told Russia that the maximum duration of a transitional stage would be six months.
Unworkable proposals
Putin knows well that opposition fighters can never be combined with the regime’s army, as his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has suggested. To add to the strangeness of this proposal, Lavrov said: “It will constitute the core of an anti-terrorism national army.” Moscow is targeting revolutionary factions instead of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has expanded in opposition-controlled regions thanks to Russian bombing. How is it possible for Ahrar al-Sham’s young leader Muhanad al-Masri, with his Salafist background and goal of a sharia-governed Syria, to get along with old Baathist intelligence chief and former jailer Ali Mamluk? There is a huge time gap between them that will only be filled with more blood. Accordingly, Russia introduced a new idea of “fighting those who reject the achieved peace agreement,” and tried to market it to the Saudis and Turks in Vienna. Strangely, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry fell for the trap and endorsed this proposal at a press conference. It is improbable that all these contacts and meetings will lead to a solution. Russia must first feel the pain of entering Syria in order to deal with the situation more seriously. No Saudi official will publicly reveal the number of Saudi- or Qatari-funded anti-tank missiles sent to the rebels, or talk about the intention to arm them with surface-to-air missiles. Nonetheless, it is most probably being executed with the help of Turkey. The Saudi position can be summarized as: Iran has no place in Syria. No discussion will be held before a solution to remove Iran and its militias from Syria is found. But under Russia's watch, Iranian mobilization in Syria is increasing. They are collaborating against the Syrian people, while we stand by them.

Turkish elections: the tyranny of majority
Mahir Zeynalov/Al Arabiya/November 03/15
The stunning electoral victory in Turkey, a surprise even for the ruling AKP party, is bad news for Turkey’s minorities, critics and the media. A large conservative base, in addition to Kurds and nationalist Turks, emboldened a government that has been undermining the country’s rule of law and democracy.
On Sunday, people in Turkey flocked to the polls to elect their representatives for the parliament. The ruling party, exceeding the wildest expectations of every single polling company, received 49 percent of the vote - an eight percent increase since previous elections - regaining the single party rule it lost just five months ago. The pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party (HDP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) lost at least 3 percent of the votes since the June 7 parliamentary elections. The Republican People’s Party (CHP), a leading opposition and a secular front, preserved its votes. At least 4.5 million voters shifted their allegiances from other parties and voted for the ruling AKP. The results are surprising, and worrisome.
Politics of violence
Many factors obviously contributed to the dramatic change in voter’s decisions. But the single most important reason is a prevailing fear that an escalating violence could have spun out of control and engulf the entire country that has enjoyed relative stability and more than a decade-long robust economic growth.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu played into the fear of people, repeatedly highlighting that their government is synonymous with stability. Almost the entire campaigning platform of the AKP was based on keeping people’s fears alive, constantly reminding them of “dark old days.” For example, Davutoglu told a crowd that “white cars” - infamous for transporting Kurdish dissidents for torture and eventually death - may return to streets if his government is forced out of the power. Erdogan even went further by suggesting that the post-election violence in Turkey could have been avoided if the AKP received necessary votes to rewrite the constitution and expand presidential powers. In an outrageous statement, a ruling party official said following the Nov. 1 elections that no more Turkish soldiers will die, a remark that sent chills across the country and raised suspicions that the government could be benefitting from the violence. More than 200 Kurdish civilians and 170 Turkish soldiers were killed, along with hundreds of PKK militants, in a two-month surge of violence during the summer. The HDP could not hold a meaningful campaign on security grounds, but did surpass the electoral threshold, becoming the third largest party in parliament.
As the HDP surged in polls in June and repeatedly renounced violence, it perhaps disturbed and challenged the very existence of the PKK. Shortly after a suicide bombing attack in the city of Suruc in Southern Turkey, the PKK assassinated two Turkish police officers in cold blood, prompting a cycle of violence characterized the post-election period. The PKK knew that its campaign of violence would hurt the HDP, but carried on with its more ruthless youth branch in urban areas, further alienating conservative Kurds. Significant number of anti-PKK voters, both from the Kurdish and Turkish nationalist front, left their parties to join the AKP. It was not clear to what extend the AKP orchestrated the post-election chaos, but it is certain that it largely benefitted from it.
Bad news for Turkish democracy
A high turnout, relatively free elections and wider voter choices deserve celebration for any democracy, including Turkey. But in a country where one-man rule has significantly undermined the achievements in the last decade and buried hard-won democracy, there is little reason to welcome the outcome of Sunday’s election. The polls on Sunday were free - people cast their votes unhindered - but far from fair. Only several days to the elections, two critical newspapers and two TV channels were seized by the authorities, not to mention detention and harassment of journalists and the unprecedented pressure on the media. Ominous signs indicate that the anti-democratic discourse will continue unabated. Just a day after the AKP’s victory, Turkish authorities raided headquarters of critical magazine Nokta, detained its two editors and collected copies from shelves. The AKP victory does not address the deeply-polarized society divided along party lines. For two years, the AKP has ramped up its divisive, bellicose and pugnacious rhetoric to consolidate its conservative electorate. It is now up to them to heal the wounds and bridge the gap. After the anti-government protests in the summer of 2013, in Istanbul’s Gezi park, people of Turkey had a chance to raise their voice in four tandem elections. The polls, as in many democracies, kept polarized society from upheaval. We won’t have another round elections until 2019. And there is no free media where people can’t see their voices conveyed. Unless the AKP-led government makes efforts in de-escalating tensions, Gezi-style anti-government protests could likely to resume.

Erdogan won at the right moment
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/November 03/15
The victory of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey’s parliamentary elections means the Iranian project in Syria will blocked. The victory was expected, but what was needed was a parliamentary majority so the AKP could form a government without the need for a coalition. A majority was secured. A coalition government would have weakened Turkey, which influences Syria’s future at a critical time. Any Turkish stance, political or military, requires a powerful cabinet capable of having its decisions passed by parliament. Now it is certain that the government is able to sit at the negotiating table and strengthen the camp that opposes Iran and the Syrian regime. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is stronger today than he was during the past five months, when his party did not have a parliamentary majority. Compared to the rest of the region, Turkey is the most influential country regarding Syria, given its shared border and massive capabilities. The AKP’s landslide victory undoubtedly disappointed the Syrian and Iranian regimes. If the party had not secured a parliamentary majority, it would have weakened the Qatari-Saudi camp, which is confronting new challenges that are more difficult than before, as the United States continues to do nothing significant while Europe’s role remains purely verbal. Meanwhile, after Russia joined the fighting in Syria on behalf of the regime, pressure mounted on the opposition due to fighting the Free Syrian Army (FSA). Moscow is trying to impose a political solution that is closer to the camp of the Iranian and Syrian regimes.
Iraq
Turkey is more concerned than others about what is happening on its borders with Iraq and Syria, and is aware that Iran’s expanded presence in these countries directly harms Ankara’s interests and enables Tehran to dominate regionally. Talk of establishing a Kurdish state in Syria was a test for the Turks during their election, and came at a time when Iran was strengthening its influence in Iraqi Kurdistan. A coalition government would have weakened Turkey, which influences Syria’s future at a critical time. If Ankara does not strongly participate in upcoming negotiations, Syria will be left to the Iranians. The Turkish presence in the Iraqi arena is also very important, although little is mentioned about it. Ankara supports different national Iraqi parties so Iran and its affiliates do not seclude this strategic country. During the past 10 years, Turkey has shown skill in dealing with Iraq’s Kurds, cooperating with them and supporting moderate powers. Ankara is also one of the biggest investors in the Iraqi Kurdish economy. This political pragmatism is in harmony with the reconciliation that Erdogan led with Turkey’s Kurds, allowing them to greatly engage in politics.
Alliances
There are other deadlocked issues, such as sour relations between the Turkish and Egyptian governments. I think Ankara will realize that the disagreement with Cairo weakens its camp. Egypt is a major pillar in the Arab world and in the entire Middle East. Without it, it will be a difficult for Turkey to resolve Iraqi and Syrian affairs. This is the era of alliances, as a country on its own cannot confront ongoing chaos, deter powers that want to alter maps by force, or convince superpowers to get involved. An alliance between Turkey, Egypt and the Gulf is capable of ending the deadlock.

Can Iran play a part in Syria’s peace and unity?
Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/November 03/15
The opportunity that Iranian leaders have been waiting for suddenly knocked on their door when they received a joint invitation by the United States and Russia to attend the Syria talks in Vienna last Friday. It’s no secret that Iran is heavily involved in the Syrian crisis in different ways. From supporting the current government of Bashar al-Assad to having military advisors on the ground (according to them) and sending artillery – Tehran is doing everything to keep its ally in power. Iran’s invitation to the Vienna Talks has demonstrated that international powers believe that Iranian officials, not a delegation from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (who are operating on the ground in Syria), should be the ones sitting around the table. This could be a means of using Iran to influence Assad and other allies, such as Hezbollah, to cooperate with the outcome of the talks.
Inviting Iran may be interpreted as the international community’s increased faith in Iran’s ability to shape regional issues
Despite Iran’s previous rejection of talking about Syria with Western powers, a high level delegation did indeed go to Vienna. And Iran’s diplomacy machine may be the main driver here, or the driver that Western powers wish to take advantage of – with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif using the skills in the Syria talks previously seen during the nuclear talks. Inviting Iran may be interpreted as the international community’s increased faith in Iran’s ability to shape regional issues. By agreeing to participate, Iran may be preparing itself and the Syrian government for a transitional period following Assad’s exit, if they wouldn’t directly admit this. The general sentiment from Western and regional countries was that Iran’s presence at the talks seem to be a positive development. When he returned to Tehran, Zarif said the talks were progressive. His comment shed light on the possibility that the talks can reach a solution that may result in Assad’s departure. It may too optimistic to predict an end to the conflict in the short term, but I believe there is hope that major steps will be taken before the end of President Obama’s presidency.
For Iran, the invitation to join Syria talks may also seem like a reward for a country that has isolated itself from international community in a mostly hostile manner for more than three decades since the 1979 revolution. The nuclear accord has brought on a unique momentum that has created a window for Iran to not only improve its relations with the world, but also to stand among major players. While parties in the talks may be divided about whether and for how long Assad should stay in power, all countries agreed that a political solution is needed to end this protracted conflict. Demonstrating flexibility in the negotiations is the most important fact at these talks for the sake of millions of devastated Syrians in the eye of this horrifying storm. The destruction of this ancient nation, along with the atrocities committed in this conflict, need to be addressed. Regardless of who is the next president of Syria, what is important is peace, freedom of expression and unity of Syria. Now it’s time to put differences aside and demonstrate responsibility.

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006 Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006